Mini Strawberry Shortcakes

Hi all! I’m Katie from Sweet Rose Studio and I’m so excited to be here today to share one of my favorite recipes!

With summer coming quicker than we’re probably all ready for (especially here in Phoenix), its about time to think about a fresher, cooler dessert to share.

When it’s over 100 degrees outside, serving something heavy and hot is just not ideal.

I love the idea of strawberry shortcake, but I wanted to add my own little twist to it. How about a mini version? Sold!

Ingredients:white box cake mix, plus required ingredientssliced strawberries * whipped creamwhite chocolate chips * 3 in. circle cookie cutterI started making my Mini Strawberry Shortcakes by following the directions on the back of the cake mix. Because I chose the white mix, the recipe called for egg whites instead of whole eggs. I used egg whites from a carton because I had them on hand, but you could easily use regular egg whites instead. In fact, that’s what I’ll do next time. I like to start by adding all of my wet ingredients together first when using a mix; I just think it helps everything mix together better. I could be wrong, but it’s just my opinion. Once everything was mixed well, I separated the batter into two 9 inch round pans.Bake according to the directions. I always bake any recipe for the lowest required amount of time. I find that things always end up more moist this way. Another hint: try not to tip your pans as you put them in the oven. It can cause your cakes to rise unevenly.As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, run a butter knife around the edges of the pans to release the cake. Let your cakes cool between 20-25 minutes until you can touch them without pot holders or getting burned.Now comes the fun part: trying to get your cake cleanly out of the pans. I’ve attempted this many times so I’d like to think that I’ve gotten it nailed down to a pretty good science by now. I’m sure someone out there has a much easier solution, but this is just what works for me. I start by placing a solid, flat plate on top of the pan (avoid flimsy or paper plates).Now carefully flip the plate/pan combo over and give the duo a slight shake until you feel the cake release completely from the pan.Slowly lift the pan and voila! Nice, clean round cake still in one piece. Once I’ve got the cake out, I wrap the plate tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until I’m ready to decorate it.And now comes the fun part: the stacking and the decorating! Because my cakes were baked in 9 inch rounds, I was able to use a 3 inch round cookie cutter to cut my mini cakes out. If you use the same sizes, you should be able to fit four circles on a single cake.Take one of the 3 inch circles and smooth a thin layer of whipped cream on it. Now spread thin slices of strawberries on the whipped cream and then add another thin layer of whipped cream. Top off the filling of the cake with white chocolate chips. I know that the typical strawberry shortcake doesn’t call for any kind of chocolate, but I have a really hard time not adding some form of chocolate to a dessert. Chocolate never hurt anyone. ;)Finish the stacking of the cake by adding another 3 inch cake to the top.Now comes the really fun part: heap lots and lots of whipped cream onto the top of your stacked cakes. Like, enough so that it starts to fall off the sides. Using a butter knife, start spreading the whipped cream off the top and down the sides of your cake. Spread the whipped cream around the outside edges of the cake, rotating your plate as you go. Wipe off excess whipped cream as you go. I just found its easier to have too much to start with rather than not enough.Now you get to repeat the process three more times to finish your four cakes. Embellish the top of each cake with a few extra slices of strawberry.Now enjoy! If you aren’t going to be serving these beauties right away, make sure to refrigerate them. It is a must! There is something that is just super unappealing about warm whipped cream and strawberries.Look at all of that yummy goodness inside there. Yum!

 

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #chefintraining and/or #chefintrainingblog. I would love to see how these recipes take shape in your kitchens.

Filed under: cake, dessert

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Comments

  1. Carmella

    Wow! They look so pretty and delicious! thanks so much for sharing...our Strawberry festival is coming up soon and I'll have to add this to the list of things to make!

  2. Carmella

    Wow! they look so pretty and delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!

  3. LeahJo

    yes for small portioned desserts...except I'd probably eat two or more of these! They look so yummy!

  4. Gloria

    Look absolutely georgeous and pretty!!

  5. Jess

    I made these today!! I have a few things I would like to say: 1) it would help to mention to keep the cool whip in the refrigerator. this might seem obvious, but we haven't had cool whip in the house for over 10 years. So I completely forgot how hard it is to maneuver when kept in the freezer.2) How in the heck did you manage to keep them so neat looking? All up until the last step I had everything going smoothly, and then the frozen cool whip in the centers started to melt and everything started to slide... and spreading it around the cakes was causing the cake sides to crumble a bit and get stuck. Again, partly because the cool whip was frozen. 3) What did you do with all the extra pieces of cake left over? We're thinking about making trifle with them??Can't say these cakes are delicious *yet*, since I'm a bit sick and have a hard time tasting anything. I'm waiting til my family is over their Easter day candy and chocolate gorging phase to try these. Thanks <3

  6. Jess

    *Everyone loves them. :) We all just ended up snacking on the extra cake pieces. And I left the sliced strawberries and cool whip off so everyone could custom add however much they wanted when they finally tried this dessert.

  7. Michael Ann

    These look fabulous! Can't wait to try this recipe. I have to buy some strawberries..

  8. Bev

    I love it, it is so simple yet so elegant~